Yet more proof that this govt and it's DWP minions are not fit for purpose, what sort of organisation allows the outsourcing of a life changing process without ensuring that the key workers in this process are in place. They should stop all future transfers until it can be seen that Capita or whoever else have the correct resource in place and if not they should be fined per cancellation until they do.

DWP should stop all transfers from DLA to PIP unless claimants voluntarily apply because of significant changes in their health. They should just focus on new claims. Even in the days of Magna Carta delayed justice was prohibited.

I applied last May for PIP and was eventually sent an assessment date for Dec, no one turned up, no one apologized and no explanation given, if I had not been home for the appointment DWP would have turned my application down. Assessment finally done in January I had two friends with me for support, the assessor said she couldn't see any problem with me getting PIP, but I was turned down, I asked for the report from the assessment and the assessor basically lied, she put down the opposite of what I said and there is no excuse as she had her laptop with her and was typing what I said, so I thought. One of the questions was she had to ask me to do some exercises and she said 'I can see you are not well enough to do them' I said 'I don't feel well enough but I will try'. She put on the form that I declined!! All other questions were much the same, my friend said that it sounded like she was talking about another person. I am now waiting to go to a Tribunal of which I am not looking forward to, it has all been very stressful for me, my main illness is a muscle wasting disease of which there is no treatment among other illnesses that cause me severe mobility issues, I feel I have been let down by the system.

we failed our assessement and had to go to a tribunial...we took evidence of my husbands disability and problems and letters from consultants etc... we were in there 15 mins,after which they apologised to us for wasting our time and awarded my husband high rate...dont give up.....the assessments are designed to fail,very few pass....chin up.x

Thank you for the info, I'm glad you had a positive result. I'm lucky I have the support of my family & friends, I'm also glad I had someone with me when they carried out the assessment and I am also having help from the CAB.

I know my story to be just one of the many that hides behind the more obvious (but still often neglected) stories of people on disability benefits. The tragedy of our nephew's life was that his own mother had refused to allow him contact with family who had experience of disability benefit applications, of the anxieties of the process and of available support groups and forums so well staffed by unpaid sick and disabled people. His family despised disabled people and campaigns for disability rights. He might have paid the ultimate price from stress and fear alone as many do who are helped by disability charities, peer support or the CAB but without a doubt, the callous attitudes of those around him to his health and his plight as a benefit claimant in a society that is so callous that it derides those forced to go through the processes described above and then demeans and devalues them further. Shy and retiring as ever he merely termed his despair and loneliness 'depression' in his suicide note, another failed and abandoned statistic in the psychological warfare upon 'benefit claimants.'

I am disabled and on 'lifetime DLA award due to NHS incompetence at birth that left me with cerebral palsy (CP). Two and a half years ago I was recovering from a miscarriage and my husband was looking for a new job that would enable us to leave a country that would try to force a disabled woman to have a termination of a wanted pregnancy simple because she _was_ disabled. Being used to the cavalier attitude of able-bodied people toward disabled people who presume to try to start a family, I was not as shocked as my husband who had never seen a doctor speak to a patient in such a way.
I was obviously shocked and upset by the GPs announcement that if I did not in her words 'make the right choice' and submit to a termination which was against both my religious beliefs and my belief as a disabled person that I have the right to a family life as enshrined in the Human Rights Act, and which in any case was an unnecessary pressure as like so many ordinary healthy pregnancies this one was unlikely to go to term for the simple reason that I am a human woman and one in three pregnancies end in miscarriage. I chose to pick up my life and think as optimistically about the future and to remind myself that I had been luckier than the millions of women who do terminate pregnancies unwillingly due to medical pressure or because the NHS presents all disabled women with this 'option' and all able bodied women who have any supposed risk.
Ten days later as we began to put our life together and to consider the options of whether to start a family and risk the shame and stigma of social services involvement, we discovered that my husband's nephew who was bipolar had killed himself rather than attend a DWP compliance interview because of fear of being bullied after an abusive childhood over what later turned out to be a clerical error about his student loan.
Tragedy upon tragedy which nearly broke my husband and which has left me drained of confidence and unwilling to ever encounter a member of DWP staff. To think of the number of people who consider killing themselves before a DWP or assessment interview and then to consider how many deaths must be those of people who had they attended would have been shunted aside to wait in more dread.

This PIP delay has made me very paranoid again, i am now very paranoid thinking that they are watching me and monitoring me for the assesment...it has been with the DM for 10 weeks now and im sure im being followed, monitored and observed behind my back there has been 1 too many "coincidences" just recently and allthough i am a paranoid schitzophrenic, i still heard a women at a bustop correctly on the phone talking about me, saying he says he needs all that extra support. well yes i flaming well do, especially now im being paranoid again after a nice PEACEFULL XMAS...so thanks PIP i was so close....until you gits played with my mind again...now im gonna be paranoid until i get a decision, and even then im going to be paranoid after...so thanks for taking too long, when the truth suggests i should of been awarded allready 6 weeks ago....mysterdee?

AND I AM VERY NEEDY, NOT GREEDY...YOU LIVE JUST ONE OF MY BAD DAYS AND YOU WILL KNOW WHY?

YOU LIVE A DAY IN MY MENTAL PRISON AND YOU WOULD WANT FREEDOM TOO.

My problems were with ATOS. I was given an appointment to attend an assessment centre 12 miles from home. I struggled to get there accompanied by my wife. I was early. I waited 2 hours in the waiting room and at 4.55pm was told I would not be able to see anyone because the centre closes at 5,00 pm and the doctors go home. I was blood furious but no amount of pleading made any difference. I made a formal complaint, was never given a suitable or satisfactory answer as to why the 'cock-up' happened but was provided with a taxi for the next re-arranged appointment to and from home. Some very small consolation.

have they changed PIP radically from DLA, as DLA is/was a benefit that you claim even if you're in work, so none of this is makinh sense? You still have the disability, need extra help and have lots extra costs, but you could be able to work!!!

probably the same bloke who did my assessment kate, he argued with me on every question and told me to stick to the question. he even called me a liar when I told him I don't eat a substancial meal every day because of my back pain. I know I have failed the assessment he was like a little kid in a sweet shop when he left skipping down street.